2s secure title, 3s denied by rain

Vish Patel’s Second Team will go into the 2023 campaign as Division Two Champions following their five-wicket win over Wembley, but rain denied James Hitchcock’s Third Team their chance to secure the league title.

There was a minute’s silence before all Brentham games on the final weekend of the campaign in memory of all-time leading wicket-taker Brian Reid, who died on Friday.

Bowling-first, the Second Team made light work of Wembley, dismissing them for just 93 in 28.2 overs. No Wembley batsman got past 21 as Yogi Prabhu (4-28) and Tilan Wijesinghe (4-15) ripped through the order. Despite losing five wickets in the chase, The Trees were never really in trouble, reaching the victory target with a shade under 25 overs remaining.

The ten points secured the Division Two title for Vish’s side ahead of Barnes, who will join them in Division One next season.

Having led Division Four B for 16 of the 17 weeks, the Third Team (below) suffered disappointment as rain forced the postponement of their game at home to Wycombe House, denying them the chance to overhaul Old Isleworthians and lift the title. Despite losing out on their chance to fight for top spot, James’s side head into Division Three full of confidence after winning 12 of 18 league games this term.

Last week’s 110 run win over Highgate secured the First Team’s place in Division Two for next season, meaning the pressure was off for the final action of the campaign away at Harrow.

That wasn’t to say there was nothing to play for as Preet Patel looked to cap off one of the all-time batting seasons for The Trees. His 71 in that Highgate victory took him to 867 runs for the season, giving him an outside chance of reaching the 1000 mark.

Bowling first, Prav Jadhav’s side dismissed Harrow for 163; Atif Shah (3-44) and Derrick Roper (2-21) doing the bulk of the damage as the hosts collapsed from 150-4. That collapse didn’t help Preet’s pursuit of the 1000 but he gave it a good go, top scoring with 73 as The Trees fell just 31 runs short. It was his sixth half-century of the campaign, to go alongside three hundreds, as he finished fifth in the First Team runs’ standings on 940.

The Fourth Team will have to see what division they are in next year after a narrow three-wicket defeat to Teddington left them filling the second relegation spot in Division Five B.

Captain Krushna Kerai (53) and Ankit Hirani (58) were the mainstays of Brentham’s 226 in 41 overs. In reply, Simon Price (2-27) and Vinay Khetia (2-67) had the hosts in trouble at 16/2 and then 152/6 but 54* from Ruben Gujral guided the Bushy Park side to their total.

The wait is now on to see if the rumoured withdrawals from the league will save the Fours from dropping into Division Six.